It’s the end of an era for one of Aspen Mountain’s slowest lifts, as the ski area plans to remove the 39-year-old Gent’s Ridge chair and sell it to a resort in Montana this fall.
The Aspen Skiing Company issued a press release about its decision to “retire” the chair on Friday afternoon, but some skiers and riders suspected the news was coming long before it was announced.
Gent’s Ridge is affectionately called the “Couch” for its soft, cushy seats and a 13-minute ride, long enough to relax for a while; that’s triple the time it takes to ride the new, high-speed “Hero’s” chairlift, which opened near Gent’s Ridge last winter and which serves much of the same terrain on the upper mountain. SkiCo indicated in a 2018 Master Development Plan that the new lift (then called “Pandora’s”) could spell the end for Gent’s Ridge; they analyzed skier traffic and ridership to make the final call this year.
The company had already reduced operating hours for Gent’s Ridge last season, but ridership wasn’t huge before that, either. Prior to the opening of Hero’s, most skiers and riders gravitated toward the speedier Ajax Express lift or Silver Queen Gondola to reach the top of the mountain.
Even so, some people had a fondness for “The Couch,” which often had shorter lines on busy ski days and allowed skiers and riders to lap the steep terrain of Walsh’s, Kristi and Hyrup’s (all of which are now served by Hero’s).
Gent’s Ridge also offered another upper-mountain lift option in the early season, when terrain was limited and top-to-bottom skiing wasn’t a guarantee. (Last year, with only a sliver of upper-mountain terrain available on Thanksgiving, Ajax Express was the only lift that skiers and riders could lap; the line for that lift began to stretch uphill as crowds sought some pre-turkey turns.)
SkiCo says they’re working on snowmaking improvements, so there will be better coverage over more terrain in the future. That would result in less pressure on Ajax Express lift and the Spar Gulch trail, which bear the brunt of early-season skier traffic.
“With improved snowmaking in Copper Bowl and the surrounding terrain, we are working towards having two routes from top-to-bottom in early season for years where we don’t have as much natural snow in November,” Aspen Mountain Manager Travis Benson said in the press release.
The removal of the Gent’s Ridge lift “is part of a broader plan for the evolution of Aspen Mountain,” according to the release. That includes the snowmaking expansion as well as “streamlining operations.”
SkiCo aims to remove the lift by the opening of this ski season — currently scheduled for Thanksgiving — but work could begin as early as September, pending in-progress review and approval from the U.S. Forest Service. Local crews will be assisted by workers from the chairlift manufacturer Leitner Poma.
Once removed from Aspen Mountain, the lift will get a second life at Maverick Mountain in Montana. The ski area’s owner and operator Erik Borge expressed gratitude for the chance to purchase the lift and “achieve the otherwise unobtainable for a small, family-run hill.”
“It's special to see the passion and heart that Aspen has for the ski industry in supporting a local hill and the future of the sport,” Borge said in a statement included in SkiCo’s press release. “We look forward to putting the ‘Couch’ back to work at our mountain; seeing it bring smiles to our local community's youth will create new skiers for the foreseeable future. Shred on!”
SkiCo’s CEO Geoff Buchheister expressed enthusiasm about the sale as well.
“I know firsthand how important these community-based resorts are to creating passionate lifelong enthusiasts for the sport, and it’s exciting to see that what no longer works for us can benefit another ski area,” Buchheister said in the release.
As the bullwheel turns: Other chairlift comings and goings
Gent’s Ridge isn’t SkiCo’s only lift due for retirement.
At Aspen Mountain, Lift 1A — also known as the Shadow Mountain chairlift — could be replaced in conjunction with multiple development projects at the west base of the ski area.
The fixed-grip double chair opened in 1972, and it’s broken down twice in the past decade, but its replacement timeline could be impacted by construction sequencing for two hotel projects planned at the base.
The mountain’s most recent Master Development Plan also indicates the Bell Mountain chairlift could be replaced. It was installed in 1957 and got a major upgrade in 1990; the chair lays claim to the longest ride of any SkiCo lift at 19 minutes, and it typically only runs a few days a season, including closing day.
Over at Snowmass Ski Area, the Coney Glade lift was removed earlier this year, with the crews now installing a faster replacement called the “Coney Express.” The former lift was almost as old as Gent's Ridge; its newer version will have an extended alignment that reaches down to the Snowmass Mall.
SkiCo also has ambitions to replace the Elk Camp and Alpine Springs lifts at Snowmass; the Forest Service is currently accepting public comment for those projects. The ski area’s 2022 Master Development Plan also suggests updates to the Cirque surface lift and the Village Express, along with a couple of new chairlifts.
Ski area master plans lay out all the projects the company may wish to pursue in the next decade or so, but the documents aren’t a guarantee or a promise; individual projects are still subject to further environmental (and sometimes municipal) review.
Buttermilk Mountain’s master plan, last updated with the Forest Service in 2008, proposed a new Tiehack lift (already installed in 2011, replacing two older lifts), as well as a new Panda Peak chair (a quad instead of a double, and not yet implemented). It also proposed “increasing capacity” for the existing Summit Express, from the current rate of 1,800 riders per hour to 2,400 riders per hour.
Aspen Highlands’ plan from 2013 proposed boosting capacity for the existing Exhibition and Cloud 9 chairlifts and adding some new lifts, but didn’t specify any current chairs that could be going the way of the dinosaur. As the Aspen Daily News reports, the Thunderbowl lift could be replaced one day, but "not in the near future," company spokesman Jeff Hanle told the newspaper in an email.
This story was updated on Aug. 31 to note the Thunderbowl lift is on the list for replacement at some point in the future, as reported by the Aspen Daily News.
